It always amazes me that people would even bother to send things like socks and underwear. Cash money travels well, folds neatly in your pocket, can be traded for socks, underwear, fresh water, cold cuts, bread, gasoline, chainsaws or backhoes, depending on your immediate needs. Through the power of the Interwebs I've already enabled some cash to be used in just these ways, and I didn't even have to drive to Oklahoma to do it.

Next thing you know, people will start getting coffee cake, seven-layer dip and cornbread muffins in the mail. "Hurr! I made this just fer yew!"

I live about 10 minutes from Newtown, CT. After the unpleasantness happened, wellwishers sent thousands, nay tens of thousands of teddy bears and other stuffed animals. While their kindness is appreciated the town has had to devote quite a few man hours to storing and eventually getting rid of said gifts. If you really feel the need to help out in some way, search for a reputable charity's website and donate cash.

Seriously though, it isn't like there's widespread, massive damage all over the Oklahoma City area and supplies and fresh water are super-scarce. It's localized to the 1.4 mile-wide tornado path. So it's not difficult to send someone to go buy a few hundred dollars' worth of stuff at the next Walmart to the north. And that will be much more efficient then sending stuff.

[laughingsquid.com image 429x566]Well, it would make a change from noodles.

(takes a second to think AFTER pressing posting button) Okay, I just posted the most inappropriate and tasteless thing possible in a tragedy-related thread, didn't I? Excuse me while I head off and shoot myself.

wxboy:Seriously though, it isn't like there's widespread, massive damage all over the Oklahoma City area and supplies and fresh water are super-scarce. It's localized to the 1.4 mile-wide tornado path. So it's not difficult to send someone to go buy a few hundred dollars' worth of stuff at the next Walmart to the north. And that will be much more efficient then sending stuff.

Yeah, I'm all for charity of any kind... but living through two hurricanes, the National Guard and Red Cross seemed to have all the supplies/food/water/ice/etc. everyone needed. And, to your point, those were hurricanes which affected an entire large city.

Although no one lost their entire house, so maybe I'm comparing apples to oranges.

The way we do charity traditionally done in this country has way too much leakage. Couldn't there be a company or a website that reviews individual hard-luck stories to see if they're legit, then lets individual donors shop around for people they want to give to? Maybe like Kickstarter, expect instead of people begging for funding for a project, they're just begging.

Or could it be structured through the tax code? Instead of giving money to the government, who give it (with alot of transaction costs) to old/sick/poor people, could a billionaire do something where they've proven they've provided the support or healthcare the government would have given, cheaper than their taxes would've been but more bang-per-buck than the government could provide.

Hell, it costs $24-$48k a year to incarcerate a prisoner. For a $12,000 a year tax break, I can keep her locked up in my basement.

How about a tornado safe house first, or the concrete, block and rebar to build some now. If not for the residents, at least for the post-disaster helpers to be safe. And maybe re-purpose shipping containers, as excellent premade shelters, underground. I'm sure there are shipping containers somewhere that are going to waste.

There is no guarantee that another tornado won't hit next week, since Moore has attracted three in the last decade. Oh, and change your name to Lesse or Fewere.

Although I'm not all that experienced with moving funds or donations to benefit the donors, such as any Republican charity CEO, I am sure all the physical donations provided to our cause, would help those in need. Unlike the charity CEOs.

Sad our inherent distrust of man causes us to not want to send cash. Sad that we have to inherently distrust man. Sad that we have evidence of organizations not getting the cash we do send to the people we intend to help.

The problem is that cash is fungible and I don't have time/resources to pick out a reputable charity.The Red Cross and many of the other high profile organizations are a mess. If you want my help you are going to have to give me some options.

Right, because it's so much more effective to spend that money on sorting, storing, and disposing of mountains of useless shiat.

If you're that damned suspicious, simply send nothing, instead of sending something that wastes time and money.

Clean socks and underwear is useless? If they've lost everything, clean clothes should be welcome. If nothing else I want clean clothes that don't smell like the bum I usually sneer disdainfully at while I sip on my peppermint mocha.

Serious question... do you have above ground graves (well I guess they wouldn't be called graves) like we do down here in NOLA?

Tombs, crypts and museulems.

No. Not a big thing around here. NOLA has those because of the water table being so high. Red clay is just a biatch to dig though and if water does get down there is swells and can break concrete. That's why we don't have basements around here. We have good top soil it just isn't very think. That's why the dust bowl was so bad.

Serious question... do you have above ground graves (well I guess they wouldn't be called graves) like we do down here in NOLA?

Tombs, crypts and museulems.

No. Not a big thing around here. NOLA has those because of the water table being so high. Red clay is just a biatch to dig though and if water does get down there is swells and can break concrete. That's why we don't have basements around here. We have good top soil it just isn't very think. That's why the dust bowl was so bad.

All good, gotcha. I actually like not having a basement. When I lived in the Chicago 'burbs I had one (like everyone else). One small problem with your sump pump, and all hell breaks lose during a minor rain storm.

BitwiseShift:How about a tornado safe house first, or the concrete, block and rebar to build some now. If not for the residents, at least for the post-disaster helpers to be safe. And maybe re-purpose shipping containers, as excellent premade shelters, underground. I'm sure there are shipping containers somewhere that are going to waste.

[media.treehugger.com image 468x326]

There is no guarantee that another tornado won't hit next week, since Moore has attracted three in the last decade. Oh, and change your name to Lesse or Fewere.

I used to work at Mobil Mini, they have tons of them sitting around rotting.

TheAbstractor:The way we do charity traditionally done in this country has way too much leakage. Couldn't there be a company or a website that reviews individual hard-luck stories to see if they're legit, then lets individual donors shop around for people they want to give to? Maybe like Kickstarter, expect instead of people begging for funding for a project, they're just begging.

Or could it be structured through the tax code? Instead of giving money to the government, who give it (with alot of transaction costs) to old/sick/poor people, could a billionaire do something where they've proven they've provided the support or healthcare the government would have given, cheaper than their taxes would've been but more bang-per-buck than the government could provide.

Hell, it costs $24-$48k a year to incarcerate a prisoner. For a $12,000 a year tax break, I can keep her locked up in my basement.

In case you're curious, stock shipping containers do not make good underground shelters. The corners and edges of containers are quite strong but the flat sides, top, etc. are relatively weak. They are likely to collapse under the weight of dirt and material placed on top. Bad juju.

I'm sure there's places that modify and strengthen them so they're suitable for such purposes, but don't just go burying a plain, unmodified shipping container in your yard and expect it to be safe.

theorellior:It always amazes me that people would even bother to send things like socks and underwear. Cash money travels well, folds neatly in your pocket, can be traded for socks, underwear, fresh water, cold cuts, bread, gasoline, chainsaws or backhoes, depending on your immediate needs. Through the power of the Interwebs I've already enabled some cash to be used in just these ways, and I didn't even have to drive to Oklahoma to do it.

Next thing you know, people will start getting coffee cake, seven-layer dip and cornbread muffins in the mail. "Hurr! I made this just fer yew!"

/seriously, don't you think if anyone actually HAD any money to spare, they would try to send it? Begging for money to help out a disaster is fine, but when people have material things they can spare, and no money, I would think it would be more prudent to send it on. Clothes and shoes do not go bad, so they can be moved on to the next areas of need. Surely someone can come up with some place to store such things if they are not needed at the moment in OK. Or should we just stop even trying?//and yes, I am skeptical of so called 'relief charities' when I see their upper management riding around in expensive cars and owning very large homes. When I can see that my monetary donation is going to the victims and not to the CEO's salary, then I might give some money.///If I had any...

After Hurricane Andrew devastated South Florida, our company set up a donation box. I looked inside one day and saw... A pair of rollerblades. To this day, whenever I go rollerblading I sing a little song in my head. It goes like this: "Skating through the wreckage. la la la la la... Skating through the wreckage..."

Right, because it's so much more effective to spend that money on sorting, storing, and disposing of mountains of useless shiat.

If you're that damned suspicious, simply send nothing, instead of sending something that wastes time and money.

Clean socks and underwear is useless? If they've lost everything, clean clothes should be welcome. If nothing else I want clean clothes that don't smell like the bum I usually sneer disdainfully at while I sip on my peppermint mocha.

They still gotta go through all of those "clean" undergarments. I know you're a trusting soul, but some people's definition of clean may not match.

/seriously, don't you think if anyone actually HAD any money to spare, they would try to send it? Begging for money to help out a disaster is fine, but when people have material things they can spare, and no money, I would think it would be more prudent to send it on. Clothes and shoes do not go bad, so they can be moved on to the next areas of need. Surely someone can come up with some place to store such things if they are not needed at the moment in OK. Or should we just stop even trying?//and yes, I am skeptical of so called 'relief charities' when I see their upper management riding around in expensive cars and owning very large homes. When I can see that my monetary donation is going to the victims and not to the CEO's salary, then I might give some money.///If I had any...

Actually, cloths and shoes do go bad strangely enough. It comes from a disaster area's storage capacity being diminished by the damage and the conversion of most large scale space to housing and the inherent logistical problems that come with large amounts of largely unsorted clothing arriving. As more and more arrive it becomes largely impractical to store and/or sort them so they are abandoned in non-water proof containers, or in extreme cases in piles at the side of the road. Couple that with the need to *wash* any non-factory sealed clothing in a area with likely damaged water capacity and you end up with a pile of unusable cloths, or resource draining, via storage rent, outlying warehouses full of cloths that require boat loads of labor to make useful.

Its much easier to take stock of the clothing sizes a family needs and buy it off a shelf from somewhere reasonably near by.

/ The largest responder charities are always planning a disaster ahead, the money donated goes to pay for the *next* disaster and not the current one.// It is also much easier to purchase the little things no one ever sends along./// And yes, it it also easier for someone to funnel the money away from something it was not directly intended for. But I still like the odds.

/seriously, don't you think if anyone actually HAD any money to spare, they would try to send it? Begging for money to help out a disaster is fine, but when people have material things they can spare, and no money, I would think it would be more prudent to send it on. Clothes and shoes do not go bad, so they can be moved on to the next areas of need. Surely someone can come up with some place to store such things if they are not needed at the moment in OK. Or should we just stop even trying?//and yes, I am skeptical of so called 'relief charities' when I see their upper management riding around in expensive cars and owning very large homes. When I can see that my monetary donation is going to the victims and not to the CEO's salary, then I might give some money.///If I had any...

Because people should be working for a charity for free? Because if you lead an organization that has thousands of employees or volunteers, you should do it for far less if it is a charity than if it is for a for-profit, despite the skills, experience and even education is similar? Because an MBA is inherently more worthy of money than a Masters in Non-Profit Management?

I don't see any reason why there should be wage discrepancies between tax exempt organizations, for-profit entities or government work, if the work being done is of similar nature.

As an Okie, I feel I must remind all of you Farkers who want to help that other areas were hit too. Shawnee and Carney are both in seriously rough shape from tornadoes that hit the state the day before the Moore tornado, and almost all the help they were receiving abandoned them after the tornado hit Moore. So if you want to send stuff to them, they'd probably really appreciate it.

susansto-helit:As an Okie, I feel I must remind all of you Farkers who want to help that other areas were hit too. Shawnee and Carney are both in seriously rough shape from tornadoes that hit the state the day before the Moore tornado, and almost all the help they were receiving abandoned them after the tornado hit Moore. So if you want to send stuff to them, they'd probably really appreciate it.

It's really funny how $40 million is what the free market dictates for an oil CEO's compensation but the head of the Red Cross is supposed to eat peanuts and scavenged dandelions. Maybe we should meet in the middle, say a million for each?

phillydrifter:AGremlin: The city of Moore was damaged by significant tornadoes on October 4, 1998; May 3, 1999; May 8, 2003; May 10, 2010; and May 20, 2013.

5 in the last 15 years.

Imagine working for the post office there.

I saw a pic of a USPS truck delivering mail to a totally demolished house. Caption said a guy in the photo was waiting for his brother's mail. Benefits would go onto an EBT card or into a bank account electroniclly, so I imagine it might have been a drug shipment.

susansto-helit:As an Okie, I feel I must remind all of you Farkers who want to help that other areas were hit too. Shawnee and Carney are both in seriously rough shape from tornadoes that hit the state the day before the Moore tornado, and almost all the help they were receiving abandoned them after the tornado hit Moore. So if you want to send stuff to them, they'd probably really appreciate it.

This! Everybody associates Katrina with New Orleans, and with New Orleans being a famous tourist city, it got most of the attention and donations. Katrina actually laid waste to the entire Gulf Coast. Entire towns were washed away in Mississippi and Louisiana, but never got the help they needed because "New Orleans!"

Right, because it's so much more effective to spend that money on sorting, storing, and disposing of mountains of useless shiat.

If you're that damned suspicious, simply send nothing, instead of sending something that wastes time and money.

Clean socks and underwear is useless? If they've lost everything, clean clothes should be welcome. If nothing else I want clean clothes that don't smell like the bum I usually sneer disdainfully at while I sip on my peppermint mocha.

They still gotta go through all of those "clean" undergarments. I know you're a trusting soul, but some people's definition of clean may not match.

Probably should have washed this, it smells like R. Kelly's sheetsPissssssssssssss.But shiat, it was 99 cents FREE.

If you folks want to throw money down a hole why not give it to people who actually face a desperate struggle. Donate to a homeless shelter or a soup kitchen. Maybe Haiti or an AIDS in Africa charity. Dirt land suburban hicks can go pound sand with their hypocritical tears for aid. I'm sure the insurance adjusters have already cut the checks. I'm aware of the loss of life but a white family from cedar street isn't getting even a second glance from me as they confront a situation that happens on a daily basis in Syria, Somalia, etc. From what I saw from google maps, the neighborhood looked boring and lifeless to begin with.

AttawaYawattA:If you folks want to throw money down a hole why not give it to people who actually face a desperate struggle. Donate to a homeless shelter or a soup kitchen. Maybe Haiti or an AIDS in Africa charity. Dirt land suburban hicks can go pound sand with their hypocritical tears for aid. I'm sure the insurance adjusters have already cut the checks. I'm aware of the loss of life but a white family from cedar street isn't getting even a second glance from me as they confront a situation that happens on a daily basis in Syria, Somalia, etc. From what I saw from google maps, the neighborhood looked boring and lifeless to begin with.

susansto-helit:As an Okie, I feel I must remind all of you Farkers who want to help that other areas were hit too. Shawnee and Carney are both in seriously rough shape from tornadoes that hit the state the day before the Moore tornado, and almost all the help they were receiving abandoned them after the tornado hit Moore. So if you want to send stuff to them, they'd probably really appreciate it.

Too true. I lived in NC and a tornado flattened my neighborhood. 2 weeks later, Joplin got hit. We had no deaths so our situation wasn't sexy enough to get any further attention. We still needed the help.

That being said: gift cards. To Target, WalMart, Home Depot, the local supermarket. Even Visa gift cards (safer than cash). There are organizations that distribute them in disaster areas.Citation is my story above. Been there. Loved the gift cards.

I'm gonna send money to that atheist girl, but being that Jesus disliked money so much, I don't want to offend the Christians in OK, so I'll just send them copies of the prayers for them that I've sent to God. I think they'll really enjoy that.

wxboy:Seriously though, it isn't like there's widespread, massive damage all over the Oklahoma City area and supplies and fresh water are super-scarce. It's localized to the 1.4 mile-wide tornado path. So it's not difficult to send someone to go buy a few hundred dollars' worth of stuff at the next Walmart to the north. And that will be much more efficient then sending stuff.

Cash donations also give the local economy a desperately-needed boost.

RedVentrue:AGremlin: You live in tornado alley, move away from the tornadoes!!!!! AAAHHHH!!!!! AHHHHHH! [sanceau.files.wordpress.com image 400x300] Everywhere you live, there is something that wants to kill you.

I sent 3 by usps. Just can't remember if I put air holes or not. I sent it priority mail yesterday in honor of Caturday so some kid is going to either get some pets or a free lunch. My good deed for the week is done.

evil saltine:It's better to have people send things that will just end up in the landfill?

Why should their first instinct be to send them to landfills? Last time I checked there were homeless children, women, and men all over the country who would love a pair of socks. Seems assholish to me.